


kage no sei

by Adlez27



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-19 22:04:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20664530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adlez27/pseuds/Adlez27
Summary: Kagekiyo wanted to live normally, but he never had the choice.





	1. Chapter 1

He prayed for his sister to survive. He prayed for her husband and son too, even if he hardly knew them. He prayed for the doctor to take care of them, and he prayed that the worst thing they had to deal with out of this entire incident would just be sorting out the car insurance. He prayed that the good people at LifeWell wouldn't give them a hard time when they called.

And then he had to pray for the eternal repose of their souls.

Their child was the only survivor of the crash. He had no children of his own, being a priest, but as an uncle it fell on him to take care of the child. He was only 3 years old, after all. Father Kiyoshi pushed the local government to allow for a special adoption and have them registered in the same household. The child was named "Kagekiyo," a saint in the darkness. Kiyoshi held him close, and made a promise. Out of the shadow of this tragedy, he would grow up into a perfect son.


	2. Chapter 2

Kagekiyo, or "Kageki" as most people called him, was by all means a good kid. He did all his homework. He went to church every Sunday and sang along to every song. He never went anywhere that kids shouldn't go. He ate his vegetables (but only if they were in curry). He was nice to everyone and a bit shy, but he did have one good friend who got him out of his shell.

Kageki was supposed to be buying the latest Shonen Jump magazine for his best friend Akito. He was given the money for the magazine, but he brought some of his own so he could buy merch. He wanted to see if there were keychains of his favorite characters, and get matching ones to share with Akito.

With the hefty magazine now in his arms, he browsed the other shelves. From the price of secondhand goods he could get a pretty good idea of which characters were the most popular. One badge could be 150 yen, and another could be as much as 700. He put it back in the box, and as he did, he noticed some fan made comics. A lot of them concerned romance, something he wasn't particularly interested in at 13 years old. He picked up one that had two guys on the cover, rivals in a series he liked. It seemed really cool, like it could be an alternate version of their fight scene. He bought that instead of the keychains.

He saved the thin comic in his bag and carried the magazine to Akito's house. They spent the afternoon reading it together, discussing their favorite parts, arguing about plot details, and reenacting scenarios. Evening fell, and after Akito's mom got off the phone with Father Kiyoshi, she invited Kageki to have dinner with them. The family ate croquettes and rice and onion soup, with one serving of croquettes set aside for Kageki to bring back home. 

When he made it home, he knocked on the door to his father's study, where he almost always was at this time of day.  
"Dad? I have Mrs. Hiyama's croquettes."  
"Put them in the kitchen please. I don't want crumbs on the books."  
Kageki went to leave the plastic box on the kitchen counter and came back.   
"It's okay if you have dinner with us too, you know," Kageki suggested. It always felt a bit lonely thinking about his dad eating alone.  
"I'm sorry for being busy tonight, but you're free to enjoy yourself." What Kiyoshi actually wanted was for Kageki to develop some independence, and to understand what a normal family was supposed to look like. That was the one thing he lacked, a mother.

Kageki ran upstairs to his room and took the doujinshi out of his bag. He had the impression that Akito looked down on things like fan made comics, and didn't want to be criticized for buying some kind of fake manga. He flipped through the pages and came to realize that it was about romance after all. Between two guys. It gave him a fluttering feeling, like the weird way he sometimes started to feel around his male classmates. It was a rather cute scene, and he read the comic over and over, hoping that he could fall in love like that too.

A week later, Father Kiyoshi found it sandwiched between notebooks while Kageki was studying at the dining table. It was only the rustling of the pages while Kiyoshi flipped through that alerted Kageki it was being taken.  
"D-dad! That's my-"  
"You should be focusing during class instead of reading manga, Kagekiyo," Kiyoshi said as he continued to read. His expression grew more stern. "What do you think this is?"  
"It's…" Kageki started, searching for the words that would get him in the least trouble. "It's a fan made comic."   
"You really shouldn't be reading things like this."  
"I'm sorry, I promise I'll focus in class-"  
"It's sinful."  
Kageki didn't quite understand, but the atmosphere suddenly became a lot more serious. He quietly apologized again just to be careful.  
"Men shouldn't be in relationships like this. It's disrespectful to the way the Lord created humanity," the father explained. "You can't let yourself be tempted by this kind of disorder."  
Kageki lowered his head. He knew there was something unnatural about it, but he didn't realize it was something completely wrong. "I understand," he said.  
"Good," Kiyoshi said, putting his arms around Kageki. "Now that you know, you can avoid it."  
He unceremoniously dropped the comic in the trash.


	3. Chapter 3

These days, Kageki and Akito were spending many of their afternoons in the park. Akito strummed a few basic chords on an electric guitar plugged into a tiny amplifier, while Kageki sang the lyrics to pop songs. Sometimes they'd have the audience of Akito's other friends (who were friendly enough to Kageki as well, but he never felt like they were close to him directly- just through Akito). Most of the time they didn't. When Kageki discovered a minor talent for poetry, they began to practice original songs too, though they often stopped and started to make minor adjustments.

Today, however, Akito wasn't in the park at all. Kageki wandered over to his house and found him at the shopfront, carrying crates of vegetables from a pickup truck inside. His father was standing in the shade, directing where each of the crates should be placed. Though the weather wasn't particularly hot, Akito rolled his short sleeves all the way up to his shoulder, and sweat glistened on his forehead. Kageki found himself admiring Akito's surprisingly muscular arms.

"Can I help?" he asked, approaching Akito's dad.  
"Sure thing, we can get this done faster if you do."  
Kageki grabbed the handles of a crate of strawberries and heaved. He groaned as it lifted, and waddled a few meters into the shop before setting it back down with a huge huff of relief.   
"That's so much heavier than I expected," Kageki wheezed to Akito, who had carried two similarly-sized boxes with ease in the time Kageki was struggling.  
"You'll get used to it," Akito said cheerfully. "I ain't got these guns from nothing!" He put down the box he was currently holding to flex his arms.  
"Wow," Kageki said absentmindedly, touching one bicep and feeling the firm muscle under his fingers.  
Akito's father called for Kageki's attention while Akito returned to the truck. "Why don't you stack these up nicely and set up the display?"  
"Yes sir," Kageki said, pushing the apple box in alignment with other boxes using his foot. When Akito carried the boxes in, Kageki merely had to lift them a short distance to their final location. The goods in the top box were arranged neatly, and Akito's father labelled them with a small sign designating the price for the day.

Once the truck was empty, Akito's father handed a sum of cash to the driver, and it went off. "Come here, boys," he said to his two helpers. "Thanks to the both of ya, we unpacked pretty quick even when my other guy got sick. Here ya go."  
He gave them each some money as well. Akito pocketed his casually, but Kageki was shocked. He thanked Akito's dad profusely.  
"It's no trouble at all, son. You work hard, you get paid. That's how the world works," he said. "In fact, how old are you?"  
"Fourteen, sir," Kageki answered.  
"Ah, course you'd be the same age as Akito now. I think I can hire you as part timers. But you better keep studying too, hear me?"  
"Yes sir!" Kageki was excited to be starting a new, more adult chapter in his life. 

Once they were officially employed, Akito and Kageki always spent their first hour after school working in the fruit and vegetable shop, and the next few upstairs in the house doing homework. Kageki, who actually paid attention during class, would usually understand it faster and end up having to reteach the whole thing to Akito so he could do it too. As a consequence of this routine, Akito's guitar started gathering dust. Kageki didn't particularly mind, though. He still got to sing in the choir every Sunday, and he still got to spend time with Akito every weekday. He only wished it could stay like this forever.


End file.
